Tag: just for fun

  • But What About Pluto?

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    Brendan Barry
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    Damn you Neil deGrasse Tyson (but not really though)! Because, you know, he advocated for de-planet-fying Pluto back in the oughts. Which I mention because of this post from xkcd, which corrects common images of planets in the solar system accounting for their population. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • A4 For Ever (and Ever)

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    Brendan Barry
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    Most of my readers know that I am a designer who works in all formats. But, I really love working in print. Colours, textures, and the physicality of it all. Give me a foil stamp or metallic ink any day. Any American designer who’s ever worked for an overseas client or overseas designer who’s ever…

  • The Mars Rovers

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    Brendan Barry
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    Perseverance landed on Mars on 18 February, almost a month ago. The video and photography the rover has already sent back has been stunning. We all know she is the most capable rover yet landed on the Red Planet, but what we all want to know is how cute is Perseverance compared to her predecessors?…

  • So Much To Do, So Little Help

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    Brendan Barry
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    This week I’m on deadline for the magazine I produce. Technically, the files go out Monday, but I spend Monday double/triple-checking things and assembling all the packages I need and so everything really needs to be done the day before, for this quarter, that’s today. Regardless, that means little sleep and craziness. Over at Indexed,…

  • No, Your Vaccine Is Now Fully Operational

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    Brendan Barry
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    Another week is over, and for the past few years I’ve often said we all made it to the end of the week. When in reality, for the last few months, thousands of people were not. We’ve started using Monday to sort of recap the state of the pandemic in a select region of the…

  • Appliance Matrix

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    Brendan Barry
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    Well, it’s Friday. And in the Northeast that means another snowstorm. In normal times, that would mean a nice half-hour walk to the office wherein my overcoat would likely become covered in snow and my trousers soaked in disgusting, salty, slush water. In other words, I’d need to wash and dry my clothes. But what…

  • The Earth Is a Bit Bumpy

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    Brendan Barry
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    Last Friday I shared an xkcd post about the relative smoothness of the Earth. This week he posted an illustration but a slightly different scale. You can see more of Earth’s jagged edges. Gotta love the Star Trek reference. I’m betting he used the length of the Kelvin timeline Enterprise, which I personally dislike, as…

  • The Earth Is Actually Quite Smooth

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    Brendan Barry
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    At scale. Not quite as smooth as a billiards ball, as is often claimed. But still, with the majority of the Earth’s surface covered by water, the highest mountains of Everest and K2 make for mere fractions of differences in height relative to the Earth’s size. But that did not stop xkcd from making a…

  • But What About New Zealand?

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    Brendan Barry
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    It’s time for another Friday just for fun posting. I once worked with a guy who could draw a map of the United States or the world on a whiteboard incredibly accurately. He then left it in the break room for the office to try and label correctly. This is kind of that, but in…